BECOMING AN ARABIC COURT INTERPRETER
Robert Joe Lee
Administrative Office of the [New Jersey] Courts
Elizabeth M. Bergman, Ph.D.
Miami University
Aziz N. Ismail
Conference and Court Interpreter
This document was prepared to enable persons who wish to become Arabic
court interpreters to understand what the profession of court interpretation
entails. It identifies the knowledge, skills and abilities that are required and
outlines how Arabic court interpreter certification exams are designed,
administered and graded. Finally, specific suggestions for preparing for
these exams and hints to keep in mind when taking the exam are provided,
including references to resources for improving one’s knowledge, skills and
abilities.
Candidates are strongly encouraged to study this document thoroughly and
invest appropriate effort to prepare before attempting to take the exam.
Study this document carefully in order to be better prepared when
taking the certification exams required of Arabic court interpreters.
The authors wish to acknowledge the contributions made early in their
work on developing this document by Muhannad F. Haimour, a practicing
Arabic court interpreter in Dearborn, Michigan, who is also a rater of the
Arabic court interpreting exam.
Unfortunately other commitments
prevented him from being able to participate in this project to the degree
we all had hoped.
October 10, 2008
(Revised May 2010)
Introduction
The court systems of the United States are experiencing an increasing need for the
services of professional interpreters in many languages, including Arabic. This
document has been prepared to help prospective Arabic interpreters understand what
the profession of court interpreter entails and how to prepare for certification exams. In
this document, you will learn the following:
•
•
•
•
•
The knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) that all court interpreters need;
The special skills that Arabic court interpreters must have;
Some ways you can develop the KSAs you will need as an Arabic court
interpreter;
How the court interpreter tests are administered and what you should keep in
mind when you take the tests; and
How the court interpreter oral performance tests are graded.
What are the Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSAs) that ALL Court
Interpreters Need?
Most of the knowledge, skills and abilities that are essential for success in the
profession of court interpreting are the same for all court interpreters, regardless of the
languages in which they work. Court interpretation requires much more than knowing
two languages. If you are thinking about becoming an Arabic court interpreter, consider
the knowledge, skills and abilities you must have by asking yourself the following
questions:
Linguistic/communicative sophistication:
•
•
•
Have I mastered the written and spoken forms of English and Arabic at the
level of a highly educated native speaker of each language?
Do I have a very sophisticated knowledge and mastery of English and
Arabic at all levels?
Can I understand and use formal varieties of English and Arabic as well as
more informal domains such as slang, colloquialisms, profanity, etc.?
Legal sophistication:
•
•
•
Do I have extensive knowledge of American legal systems and court
procedures?
Can I understand and use the range of technical terminology that occurs in
courts and other legal contexts (e.g., legal terminology, but also
specialized domains such as drugs, weapons, etc.)?
Do I know the Arabic equivalents of English legal terms and the English
equivalents of Arabic legal terms?
1
Skill sophistication:
•
•
Can I perform all three modes of court interpretation: sight, consecutive
and simultaneous?
Can I perform all three modes accurately and faithfully, no matter what the
circumstances might be?
Professional sophistication:
•
•
Do I know established codes of professional conduct and ethics, and best
practices for court interpreters?
Do I follow those codes of professional conduct and ethics, and best
practices, so that I always perform my duties in a professional manner?
Most people who answer these questions honestly must say “maybe” or even “no” to
one or more of these questions. Now please ask yourself one more question:
•
What am I willing and able to do in order to obtain the KSAs of a court
interpreter?
The likelihood that you will successfully become an Arabic court interpreter depends on
how accurately you make these assessments and the degree to which you are willing to
invest the time, resources and effort into developing the KSAs of this profession. See
Appendix A for a more detailed list of court interpreter KSAs.
What Special Skills Does the Arabic Court Interpreter Need?
The Arabic language presents a unique challenge to Arabic court interpreters. The
primary feature of that challenge is that Arabic usage is “diglossic”. This means that
Arabic speakers use two major different varieties of the language. They may stay in
one variety, go back and forth between the two varieties, or use both varieties in a
single sentence, depending on circumstances. You are familiar with this situation from
your daily life.
One variety is a highly formal variety that we have come to call Modern Standard Arabic
(MSA) and is also known as “Classical Arabic,” “‫اﻟﻔﺼﺤﻰ‬, al-fus-ha, or “literary Arabic.” It
is the type of Arabic used in official or formal circumstances such as schools, courts,
and media. This is also the variety of Arabic used in written communications. As such
it is fairly standardized throughout the Arabic-speaking world. To the degree that
speakers of Arabic from various parts of the world can communicate with each other, it
is often (but not always) through the use of this variety of Arabic.
The other variety is known as “colloquial Arabic,” ‫اﻟﻌﺎﻣﻴﺔ‬, al-‘aamiyya, or ‫ اﻟﺪارﺟﺔ‬, al-daarija,
“dialectal Arabic,” “Arabic dialect,” “vernacular Arabic,” “conversational Arabic,” or “the
slang,” and has many local variants. This variety of Arabic is spoken in everyday social
situations. Linguists of Arabic recognize four major dialect groups: Arabian Peninsula
Colloquial, Egyptian Colloquial, Levantine Colloquial (Mashriqi), and North African
Colloquial (Maghribi). Arabic speakers from different parts of the world who attempt to
2
communicate verbally with each other will have many obstacles to overcome if they rely
solely on one of the four primary varieties because of wide variations in pronunciation
and vocabulary. These varieties of Arabic are essentially oral and are not usually
written.
Because of the diglossic nature of Arabic, Arabic court interpreters must possess the
following KSAs above and beyond those of court interpreters of other languages. In
order to further assess your readiness to take an Arabic court interpreter certification
exam, please ask yourself the following additional questions:
•
Can I interpret effectively back and forth between English and Modern
Standard Arabic (MSA)?
MSA is as close as there is to a universal means of communicating among Arabic
speakers. If a court interpreter cannot handle MSA, there will be a problem
communicating with many Arabic speakers who appear in courts as parties or
witnesses.
•
Can I effectively and accurately interpret between English and MSA -rather than a colloquial dialect -- when I face written materials?
As noted above, written Arabic will almost always be produced in MSA and rarely in a
colloquial dialect.
•
Can I effectively and accurately interpret between English and MSA – rather
than a colloquial dialect -- when I face simultaneous interpretation from
English into Arabic?
Simultaneous interpretation in court is always from English into Arabic and is largely the
interpretation of the speech of judges and attorneys and, to a lesser degree, Englishspeaking witnesses. The type of discourse that is ordinarily interpreted simultaneously
is the formal discourse of highly educated speakers who use language in a very formal,
restricted and trade-specific way unique to the legal environment of the courtroom.
Accordingly, the vehicle for that interpretation into Arabic should be MSA for the most
part. However, when an English speaker begins to use a more informal, colloquial or
slangy style of speech, then the interpreter could use either MSA or the colloquial
dialect spoken by the person for whom the interpreter has been contracted.
•
Can I effectively and accurately interpret between English and a colloquial
dialect of Arabic in question-and-answer situations with the Arabicspeaking party or witness? Can I perform consecutive interpretation when
it is the appropriate mode of interpretation?
When parties or witnesses are answering questions during a court proceeding (e.g.,
when the court asks questions of an Arabic-speaking defendant during a first
appearance in a criminal matter, or when an attorney is conducting an examination of
an Arabic-speaking witness), the Arabic court interpreter will have to understand what
that speaker of Arabic is saying, whether in MSA, a colloquial dialect depending on the
speaker’s background, or a combination of both. In addition, it will sometimes be
3
appropriate, in the professional judgment of the court interpreter, to use MSA or to use
the colloquial dialect of Arabic used by that party or witness. Furthermore, the
interpreter may use a variety of strategies that include a combination of both MSA and
that colloquial dialect.
•
Can I demonstrate my abilities as an Arabic court interpreter in MSA and
one of the following Arabic dialect groups: Arabian Peninsula Colloquial,
Egyptian Colloquial, Levantine Colloquial (Mashriqi), and North African
Colloquial (Maghribi)?
The New Jersey Judiciary has invested considerable effort since April 1995 to
understand the special needs of Arabic speakers and the linguistic diversity of the
Arabic-speaking world so it can develop appropriate approaches for providing equal
access to its courts for Arabic speakers who have limited English proficiency. These
efforts are based on the expert advice of scholarly linguists and practicing interpreters.
The fact that Ethnologue, a preeminent authority on the world’s languages, identifies
some 40 major varieties of Arabic illustrates the nature of the problem. It is simply not
possible to develop court interpreter certification exams in 40 varieties of Arabic or to
attempt to match every person needing Arabic interpreting services with an Arabic
interpreter from the exact same dialect group.
In order to manage certification of Arabic interpreters as well as the delivery of
appropriate Arabic court interpreting services, the following scheme for classifying
dialect groups has been adopted:
DIALECT GROUP
Arabian Peninsula Colloquial
Egyptian Colloquial
Levantine Colloquial (Mashriqi)
North African Colloquial (Maghribi)
COUNTRIES OF ORIGIN
Bahrain
Iraq
Kuwait
Oman
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
United Arab Emirates
Yemen
Egypt
Northern Sudan
Israel
Jordan
Lebanon
Palestine (Palestinians)
Syria
Algeria
Libya
Mauritania
Morocco
Tunisia
4
•
Can I strike the right balance between MSA and a colloquial dialect of
Arabic that is faithful to the source language, the nature of the discourse
being interpreted, and the variety of Arabic which can carry the
interpretation most faithfully?
There is a presumption that in certain circumstances MSA or the appropriate colloquial
dialect will be used for sustained periods of time. It is also true that a speaker may
move back and forth between MSA and a colloquial dialect for extended periods of time.
Arabic interpreters must be competent in both MSA and one or more dialects, and know
when and how to move back and forth between the two appropriately and accurately.
What Are Some Recommended Ways to Develop the Knowledge,
Skills and Abilities to Become an Arabic Court Interpreter?
Develop Broad Knowledge of Both Languages
The first and perhaps most important step of all is to ensure that you have an extensive
knowledge of English and Arabic. It is simply not possible to develop interpreting skills
without having a sophisticated mastery of both languages. Do the following in Arabic
and English:
•
Read a lot and read a wide range of materials, especially in each of the
following areas:
o literature
o biography
o the hard sciences (biology, chemistry, geology, etc.)
o the social sciences (history, sociology, anthropology, etc.)
o religion and philosophy (Muslim, Christian, secular, etc.)
o scholarly journals, books, and other academic sources
o popular periodicals such as magazines and newspapers, and Internet
sources
•
Expose yourself to a wide range of regional and stylistic varieties of Arabic
and English through the media.
•
Make a conscious effort as you read and listen to learn new vocabulary and
update your vocabulary in Arabic and English. Even the most experienced
interpreters keep vocabulary lists and glossaries.
•
Listen to all of the following:
o the news
o talk shows and discussions that deal with a variety of topics
o call-in programs (useful for regional variation in Arabic and English)
o dramas and serials (useful for regional variation in Arabic)
5
•
Whenever possible, take advanced college or university courses in Arabic
and English. Possible areas of study are:
o literature
o advanced grammar and linguistics of Arabic or English
•
Use Arabic and English regularly in a variety of informal and formal
situations, personal as well as professional.
A list of specific resources that may be useful is provided in Appendix B.
Develop Knowledge of Legal Terminology and Court Procedure
You must learn the terminology you will be hearing from judges, attorneys, and the
parties. You also need to understand court procedure. To a lesser degree, you need to
understand the legal cultures of the Arabic-speaking world so you know how to select
and use terms appropriately when interpreting into Arabic, as well as understand and
interpret into English the legal concepts used by Arabic speakers in our courts.
•
Learn the most common legal terms and types of court procedures in
English.
o Download The English Legal Glossary by the Consortium for Language
Access in the Courts (formerly the Consortium for State Court Interpreter
Certification) (http://www.ncsconline.org/D_Research/CIResources.html; click
on “Legal Glossary-English”) and learn the commonly used terms listed
o Whenever possible, take courses in law or court procedure at a college or
university. You do not have to go to law school. There are many courses in
paralegal studies, criminal justice, administration of justice, and related
majors and minors that will help you learn what you need.
o Observe a wide variety of court proceedings and related events in
courthouses such as mediation and hearings presided over by arbitrators and
hearing officers.
o Watch “Court TV,” taking notes on terminology and procedure.
o Buy or borrow from a friend, colleague, or library as many as possible of the
bilingual, English-Arabic references listed in Appendix B.
o Begin compiling your own list of key terms and making sure you learn what
they mean.
•
Learn how each of those terms should be rendered in Arabic
o Buy or borrow from a friend, colleague or library as many as possible of the
Arabic-language references listed in Appendix B.
o Develop equivalents (translations) for each of the terms in The English Legal
Glossary. If possible, do this collaboratively as a team effort with peers.
o Use translation (Arabic to English and English to Arabic) of legal documents
for practice.
If possible, ask someone with legal and/or interpreting
experience to review your translations and mentor you on appropriate usage.
6
Develop Interpreting Skills in the Three Modes of Interpretation
Once you have a solid base in the two languages, then you can start developing the
basic skills in sight, consecutive, and simultaneous interpretation. Here are some of the
ways you can do this:
•
Take courses in translation.
Interpretation, which involves oral or signed communication, and translation, which
involves only written documents, are related but separate professions. Still,
studying translation provides an excellent foundation for developing skills in
interpretation. Some experts even claim that training in translation should precede
taking courses in interpretation. Theories and techniques for finding equivalents
and understanding the challenges of producing equivalency across languages
provide an excellent foundation for interpreters. Following are the courses known to
the authors:
o Marygrove College in Detroit, Michigan. For details, call 313-927-1448 or go
to http://www.marygrove.edu/academics/Arabic/index.asp.
o New York University in New York City.
For details go
www.http://scps.nyu.edu/areas-of-study/foreign-languages/professionalcertificates/translation.html, or call 212-998-7200; 888-998-7204.
•
Take a language-specific
interpretation.
course
in
Arabic-English,
to
English-Arabic
Following are the courses known to the authors:
o Interpreting School for Prospective Arabic Court Certified Interpreters, LA
Institute of Translation and Interpretation, Los Angeles, California.
http://Chinese-school.netfirms.com/Arabic-translation-interpretationschool.html.
o “Learn How to Become a Certified Interpreter in the Arabic Language: A
Two-Day Skill-Building Workshop” offered by the Arab American Language
Institute in Dearborn, Michigan (313-457-1700).
•
Buy or borrow Arabic-English interpretation materials and practice all of
the exercises provided.
One of the best ways to develop skills is to practice with a small group of
prospective Arabic interpreters or a mentor so you can receive honest, objective
feedback. The only available material known to the authors at this time is the
following:
o Arabic: Two-Tone Tapes, English-Arabic Tape (available from Acebo, Inc.,
http://www.acebo.com). This stereo tape contains source material for the
interpreter to practice as well a model interpretation of that same material by
7
an expert interpreter. The source material is on the left track of the tape, and
the interpretation is on the right track. The source material consists primarily
of jury instructions.
`
• Buy or borrow language-neutral practice materials and practice all of their
exercises.
This also is most useful when done with peers or mentors. Following are some
available materials:
o The Interpreter's Edge, Generic Edition, (available from Acebo, Inc.,
http://www.acebo.com). This consists of a paperback book and a set of five
one-hour audio cassettes to develop interpreting skills from English into any
other language. The products provide English-language source materials
designed to provide interpreters and interpreting students with training in all
the requisite techniques of court interpreting.
o Consortium for Language Access in the Courts, Practice Examination Kit—All
Languages.
Available
from
http://www.ncsconline.org/d_research/
CourtInterp/CICourtConsort.html
o Administrative Office of the [New Jersey] Courts, Simultaneous Interpreting
Practice Kit. This is available on-line at the New Jersey Judiciary’s website:
http://www.judiciary.state.nj.us/interpreters/resources.htm (see the fourth
bullet under “Resources for All Interpreters”).
o The National Court Reporters Association has issued numerous tapes at
differing speeds to help court reporters build transcription skills. Some are
also helpful tools for simultaneous interpreting practice into any language.
We recommend the following for beginners: Special Student Series A, 3
tapes; Speed Development Series, SD 120 Jury Charge and SD 120
Testimony. For the more advanced student, we recommend Special Student
Series B. Get a current catalog directly from the association. NCRA Store,
8224 Old Courthouse Road, Vienna, VA 22182-3808; 800-272-6272; FAX
703-556-6291. http://www.ncraonline.org
o Practice simultaneous interpretation while listening to English broadcasts on
radio and television (e.g., National Public Radio, news, and documentaries).
How Are the Arabic Court Interpreting Performance Tests
Administered? What Should Candidates Keep in Mind When Taking
the Test?
There are three sections to the test, one for each of the modes of interpretation: sight,
consecutive and simultaneous. The exams are administered by a trained proctor who is
ordinarily neither an interpreter nor a speaker of Arabic.
8
The testing model followed in New Jersey is based on the principles outlined above
providing for—
1. MSA to be the primary form of Arabic to be used in the sight and simultaneous
sections of the exam (both for the source language material to be interpreted
from and for when interpreting from English into Arabic); and
2. One of the four colloquial dialects to be the primary language used in the
consecutive section (informal English questions should be interpreted into the
colloquial dialect and the witness’ answers will be provided by native speakers
using primarily the colloquial dialect).
The New Jersey model1 administers the Arabic tests in two stages, keeping separate
the sections that focus primarily on MSA from the section that focuses primarily on the
four major colloquial varieties of Arabic, treating them almost as if they were all different
languages. Stage One consists of the sight and simultaneous, which, taken together,
constitute an exam for MSA. Candidates who are successful on MSA then proceed to
Stage Two and take the consecutive section corresponding to the dialect in which they
wish to work, if one is available. Candidates in New Jersey must submit a separate
application to take the MSA exam and any of the consecutive exams. Applications for
any consecutive exam are submitted after successful completion of the MSA exam.
Stage Two takes place several weeks after the date on which candidates take the sight
and simultaneous sections. Candidates who wish to work in Egyptian Colloquial Arabic
must take that consecutive exam and those who wish to work in Levantine Colloquial
Arabic2 must take that exam. Candidates who wish to take both the Egyptian Colloquial
and Levantine Colloquial tests will ordinarily be scheduled to take these exams on the
same day, back to back. However, if any candidate would prefer to take the two tests
on separate dates, this arrangement will be permitted upon written request by the
candidate.
New Jersey classifies Arabic interpreters on the basis of their scores on both of the
MSA sections and the colloquial dialect section(s).3 In order to reach the Journeyman
level, for example, the candidate must score at least 70% or higher on:
• the sight section of the MSA exam (including scoring at least 65% on the
MSA→English part as well as at least 65% on the English→MSA part), as well as
an overall average across both parts of 70% or higher;
• the simultaneous section of the MSA exam; and
• the colloquial dialect exam (e.g., Egyptian Colloquial or Levantine Colloquial).
1
Some states that are members of the Consortium for Language Access in the Courts and administer the
Consortium’s Arabic exams follow the New Jersey model and others do not. The ones that follow a
different model tend to administer the consecutive section at the same test session as the sight and
simultaneous in the following sequence: sight, consecutive, simultaneous.
2
Since this document was written in 2008, the Consortium has retired the Levantine Colloquial Arabic
exam being used at the time and it is no longer available. A new exam will be developed to replace it as
soon as the Consortium can allocate the necessary resources.
3
New Jersey’s classification system also depends on scores obtained on the written test. For details on
the relationship between the written test scores and the court interpreter oral performance test scores in
determining one’s classification, see page six of the description of the written test on New Jersey’s
website (http://www.judiciary.state.nj.us/interpreters/examover.pdf).
9
However, if a candidate passes the MSA exam at the Journeyman level of 70% or
higher on each section but scores 68% on the colloquial dialect exam, the candidate’s
classification will be at the Conditionally Approved level until such time as he or she can
pass the colloquial dialect exam with a score of 70% or higher.
Unfortunately a consecutive examination is presently available only in Egyptian
Colloquial Arabic. The Consortium expects to develop a new exam for Levantine
Colloquial Arabic in the near future and, as soon as it becomes available, candidates
wishing to work in that dialect will be required to take that exam. It is also hoped that
exams in both Gulf State Colloquial Arabic and North African Colloquial Arabic will
eventually be developed. When they become available, anyone who has already
registered to work in these dialects will also be required to take the corresponding test
or tests in order to continue working. Until such time as a consecutive exam is available
in these three colloquial dialects, persons who register to work in them will be classified
on the basis of the following four criteria:
• Their scores on the MSA exam
• Their score on the written test
• Their experience as professional interpreters
• Their training in interpretation
For further information on his this aspect of New Jersey’s classification system works,
go to http://www.judiciary.state.nj.us/interpreters/intclass_untested.pdf. Note: The
Spoken English Test referred to in that document is not required for Arabic interpreters.
Sight
The sight section of the exam has two parts. There are two documents, one written in
English and the other in MSA. Each one is less than one page long, double-spaced,
and contains 200-225 words.
Each document is a type of document that a court interpreter could encounter in her/his
work. The English document, for example, may be from a police report, a presentence
report, or any other report written for a judge. The MSA document could be a formal
letter written to a judge (such as a character reference letter or victim impact statement
submitted for consideration at sentencing) or a legal document originating from an
Arabic-speaking country.
The English-to-MSA part is administered first. Once the English-to-MSA exam is
finished, the candidate may take a brief break. Then the proctor will proceed to
administer the MSA-to-English part.
10
Both parts are timed. The candidate has six minutes to interpret each document.4 The
proctor uses a stopwatch to monitor the time. If you have not finished by the end of the
time allotted, the proctor will stop you.
You should interpret the majority of the text of the English part into MSA. Where the
English text is informal or colloquial, interpret into the colloquial dialect of Arabic with
which you are most familiar, i.e., the type of Arabic spoken by ordinary people in their
everyday lives. 5
Here are the actual instructions you will hear when you take the English-to-MSA portion
of the sight exam6:
Here’s the first document. When you’ve completed your review period,
interpret everything you see on the page into Modern Standard Arabic.
“Modern Standard Arabic” is the Arabic you use for formal reading and
writing, as well as for formal situations like a courtroom trial, a news
broadcast, or a lecture. This is also known as “Classical Arabic” or “alfus’ha.” However, when the style of English is informal or colloquial, you
may interpret into any dialect of Arabic using the kind of Arabic spoken by
ordinary people in their everyday lives instead of Modern Standard Arabic.
Here are the actual instructions you will hear when you take the MSA-to-English portion
of the sight exam:
This time you will go the other way, from Modern Standard Arabic into
English. Interpret everything you see on the page into English.7
4
New Jersey’s administration of sight exams is slightly different from the Consortium model in that New
Jersey gives candidates two minutes to read the document after which they must begin rendering their
interpretation, and then allows four minutes for the interpretation. Candidates in New Jersey will hear the
following instructions: “We will now begin the exam with the two sight interpretations. The first document
is in English and you will interpret it into Modern Standard Arabic. The second one is in Modern Standard
Arabic and you will interpret that one into English. In each case, we recommend that you read through
and study the entire document before beginning your interpretation. You will have up to two minutes for
that review. I will tell you when one-half of your review time has passed to help you budget your allotted
time. While you do have up to two minutes to familiarize yourself with each document, you may begin
interpreting at any time. If you have not begun to interpret by the end of two minutes, however, I will tell
you to begin. You will then have up to four minutes in which to complete your interpretation of each
document. Please do not fold or write on either document, but you may take notes on the pad if you wish.
Do you have any questions?”
5
Dr. Bergman provides the following examples: “Formal English differs from informal English in the same
ways the MSA differs from the varieties. That is, the varieties differ in diction, grammar, and vocabulary.
The diction of formal English is slower and more precise than that of informal English. Word boundaries
are clearer, so that words are not slurred together. The grammar of formal English differs from that of
informal English. The most noticeable difference is in contractions (I’d, shouldn’t, etc.). They are
common in informal English, where the uncontracted forms (I would, should not) are more common in
formal English. The other most noticeable difference is in vocabulary. Formal English has ‘person’ or
‘individual’ where informal English has ‘guy,’ for example.” July 5, 2005 e-mail to Robert Joe Lee.
6
Candidates in New Jersey will hear both the instructions indicated in footnote 1 as well as the
instructions indicated here.
11
Suggestions to Remember When Taking the Sight Section
•
Read all the way through each document BEFORE beginning your
interpretation.
• Make notes of solutions while reading and refer to them when delivering
your interpretation.
• Interpret everything you see on the page; do not leave out anything.
• Deliver the interpretation in a smooth, even pace. A choppy delivery is
not professional.
• Do not fill pauses in your interpretation with “ums” or “ahs”. When you
need a moment to think, a brief period of silence is more professional.
• Do not speed through your rendition. The time allotted is ample for a
competent interpreter. There is no reward for speed. At the same time,
strive to avoid long pauses.
• If you need reading glasses, bring them with you to the exam and put
them on before you start the sight section.
• If you cannot find the right word or phrase in MSA, it is acceptable to
use an appropriate word or phrase in an Arabic dialect and such
renderings will not be counted wrong.
• Do not write on or fold the written test document.
7
Candidates in New Jersey will hear the following instruction from the proctor instead: “This time you will
go the other way, from Modern Standard Arabic into English. Again, I'll advise you when half of your
review time has passed and tell you to start to interpret after two minutes, if you haven't already begun.
Here’s the second document. When you’ve completed your review period, interpret everything you see
on the page into English.”
12
Simultaneous
Let’s start with two important points. First most candidates, regardless of language, find
that simultaneous interpretation is the most difficult mode of interpretation. The
following table taken from the court interpreter testing databases maintained by the New
Jersey Judiciary, which has been testing court interpreters since 1987, illustrates this8:
AVERAGE SCORE AND % OF CANDIDATES SCORING
70 OR HIGHER ON EACH TEST SECTION
LANGUAGE9
Arabic, Modern Standard
Sight
Average
% at
Score
70%+
58
23
Consecutive
Average
% at
Score
70%+
Not applicable
Simultaneous
Average
% at
Score
70%+
33
2
French
74
60
67
31
35
5
Haitian Creole
68
50
61
28
43
7
Italian
85
95
75
71
51
12
Korean
62
28
70
54
41
6
Mandarin
71
71
65
44
41
9
Polish
80
90
73
77
38
29
Portuguese
82
84
69
55
46
18
Russian
76
76
72
59
47
10
Spanish
60
28
58
28
41
11
Vietnamese
55
11
59
33
30
4
The most obvious implication for candidates is that you really need
to develop your simultaneous interpreting skills to prepare for this
portion of the exam. Most people can perform sight and consecutive
interpretation with some practice. For most candidates, learning to
perform simultaneous interpreting takes much more time and effort
than mastering the other modes of interpretation.
Second, simultaneous interpretation is indeed possible between from English into MSA.
Interpreters of many languages, including some Arabic-English interpreters, believe that
the differences in syntax and lexicon make simultaneous interpretation into MSA
impossible. The following statistics, again from New Jersey and for the same time
period, show that it is indeed possible to perform simultaneous interpretation from
English into very dissimilar languages, although it is also true that there is some
evidence that it is easier to perform simultaneous interpretation into some languages
than others.
8
This is also born out in other states as well as the Federal court interpreter certification programs. See
Wanda Romberger, Skills Training for Foreign-Language Court Interpreters: Does It Increase the
Number of Qualified Interpreters? (p. 23).
9
New Jersey tests in other languages besides these, but statistics for languages for which there have
been fewer than 25 examinees are not reported here.
13
HIGHEST SCORE EVER
REACHED ON THE
SIMULTANEOUS
LANGUAGE
Arabic, Modern Standard
78
French
77
Haitian Creole
86
Italian
87
Korean
81
Mandarin
89
Polish
92
Portuguese
90
Russian
91
Spanish
96
Vietnamese
79
The most obvious implication for candidates is that simultaneous
interpretation is indeed possible from English into MSA. It requires a
considerable amount of sophistication in knowledge of the two
languages as well as skill in the performance of this mode of
interpretation. Knowledge and skill at this level can ordinarily be
attained only through extensive training and practice. Do not allow
yourself to believe in or be held back by the suspicion or belief that
simultaneous interpretation from English into MSA is impossible -- it
is possible.
The material in the simultaneous section of the exam is an average, general type of
legal proceeding a court interpreter typically encounters. It does not include highly
technical material such as testimony by expert witnesses. It could consist of an opening
or closing argument in a civil or criminal matter; witness testimony, with both questions
and answers (where the witness is a speaker of English), or both.
The exam is administered via a prerecorded CD.10 The proctor will give you a set of
headphones that are plugged into the CD player. After the proctor has read all the
instructions, including telling you what the first words or sentence will be when the test
begins, and you indicate that you are ready to begin, the proctor starts the CD player.
The first thing you will hear on that recording is an introduction. It last about one minute
and is not a part of the test. That introduction reminds you of most of the instructions
you have already heard from the proctor, including the first words or sentence of the
test. It also gives you a chance to adjust the volume before starting, but you may also
10
The simultaneous exam was originally administered from a prerecorded, standard cassette tape. It is
possible that some candidates will take the test from a tape recording instead of a recording on a CD.
14
adjust the volume at any time during the test. You can also make sure there are no
problems with the headphones before the test begins.
After a five-second pause, you will hear one or more persons speaking in English for
approximately seven minutes. There are no pauses or breaks; English speakers
continue without hesitation or pauses. While the English material continues, you must
interpret out loud into MSA everything you hear to the best of your ability.
The simultaneous recording cannot be stopped while you are taking the exam. You
have to keep up with the English material. If you stop interpreting and ask the proctor to
stop the test, the proctor will confirm that you want to end the exam. If you do stop, the
test will be terminated at that point and everything in the balance of the exam will be
counted wrong.
The simultaneous component has between 800 and 850 words and is recorded at a
constant speed of approximately 120 words per minute (WPM). This is not fast,
although it may seem fast when you are taking the exam, given the role nerves and
anxiety can play. In fact, it is fairly slow when compared to the average speed with
which English is spoken either in ordinary discourse or in the courtroom.
Most of the English material you will hear is formal English, which is characteristic of
what you would hear from judges and attorneys in an American courtroom. When the
material is that kind of English, you will interpret simultaneously into MSA.
Some of the English may be in an informal or colloquial style. When you hear such
informal or colloquial English, interpret simultaneously into the colloquial dialect of
Arabic with which you are most familiar, i.e., the type of Arabic spoken by ordinary
people in their everyday lives.
Here are the actual instructions you will hear when you take the simultaneous section of
the exam:
Interpret everything you hear into what we call Modern Standard Arabic
and is also known as “Classical Arabic” or “al-fus’ha,” as we described it in
the sight section of the test. However, when the style of English is
informal or colloquial, interpret into any dialect of Arabic using the kind of
Arabic spoken by ordinary people in their everyday lives instead of
Modern Standard Arabic.
Suggestions to Remember When Taking the Simultaneous Section
• Keep up with the source material as best you can. Maintain the pace.
• Don’t let one word throw you off. If you don’t know it or don’t know how
to interpret it, leave it out and keep going.
• If you get lost or fall behind, take a deep breath and resume interpreting
as soon as you can. Missing a few words here and there will not cause
you to fail the entire exam.
15
• If notes are useful and appropriate, take notes to help you interpret.
• If you cannot find the right word or phrase in MSA, it is acceptable to
use an appropriate word or phrase in colloquial Arabic.
• If you know more than one way to interpret a word or expression, use
the first one that comes to mind. Do not deliver a string of synonyms or
attempt to be overly precise as doing so will result in your falling behind.
Consecutive
The consecutive section of the exam simulates taking evidence from one or more
witnesses testifying in one of the colloquial varieties of Arabic. As with the
simultaneous, the material in the consecutive exam is a typical court proceeding
involving taking testimony from a witness that court interpreters typically encounter. It
does not include highly technical material such as testimony by expert witnesses. It
could be from either a civil or a criminal case.
The consecutive section has also been recorded on a CD. When the CD is produced,
native speakers of English play the role of the judge or attorney who is asking the
questions. Likewise, native speakers of the pertinent colloquial dialect of Arabic play
the role of the witness or defendant who is testifying. The test material has been
recorded at an even, consistent pace and is neither particularly slow nor particularly
fast.
There are 850-950 words total in this section. Most of the material to be interpreted is in
one colloquial dialect of Arabic; less than half is in English.
The utterances differ in length, from very short to relatively long. They may be as short
as one word and as long as 50 words. The scoring units (see below for how the test is
graded) are distributed throughout the consecutive exam according to the length of
utterances. The reason for this is to ensure that candidates demonstrate their ability to
handle varying lengths of utterances. Here is the distribution of scoring units according
to the length of utterances in which they are embedded:
Length of Utterance
1-10 words
11-20 words
21-30 words
31-40 words
41-50 words
Distribution of Scoring Units
10% in each source language
25% in each source language
30% in each source language
25% in each source language
10% in each source language
Here’s how the consecutive section is actually administered.
1. The proctor reads instructions about how the consecutive will be administered.11
2. The proctor will confirm that you are ready and begin the consecutive exam.
3. The proctor will play the first track on the CD. It is a question or statement in
English.
11
It is possible that, at some point in the near future, these instructions will be prerecorded and proctors
will no longer read the instructions.
16
4. The proctor pauses the CD player.
5. You interpret that utterance into the dialect of colloquial Arabic in which the
exam has been prepared (see below for more specific guidance).
6. The proctor plays the next track, which is usually the witness answering the
question in the appropriate dialect of Colloquial Arabic.
7. The proctor pauses the CD player.
8. You interpret that utterance into English.
That is the basic sequence throughout most of the consecutive section. However, there
may be some instances when you will hear two consecutive utterances in English or two
consecutive utterances by the witness or party.
Finally, keep in mind that you will be able to ask for two utterances to be repeated.
When you are taking the exam, remember that you may ask for two repeats. You will
be reminded about this right before the proctor plays the first utterance of the exam.
Specific Guidance for the Egyptian Colloquial Exam
The Arabic-speaking witness you will hear is from Egypt and will be speaking Egyptian
Colloquial Arabic. By that we mean the Arabic dialect spoken in Egypt and parts of
Sudan.
Most of the questions are asked in a relatively informal register of English. You should
interpret those questions into Egyptian Colloquial Arabic.
Some of the questions are spoken in a more formal register of English. You may
interpret those into either MSA or Egyptian Colloquial Arabic. The choice of Arabic is up
to you; any accurate and faithful interpretation in either will be accepted and you will not
be penalized for your choice.
When interpreting the witness’s answers into English, interpret testimony given in MSA
into formal English. When the witness speaks in an informal, colloquial, or slangy style
of Egyptian Colloquial Arabic, use a similarly informal, colloquial, or slangy style of
English.
Here are the actual instructions the proctor will read to you when you take the
consecutive section of the exam:
Interpret questions asked in English into Arabic and interpret the witness’s
Arabic responses into English after each speaker finishes speaking. The
Arabic-speaking witness you are about to hear is from Egypt and speaks
Egyptian Colloquial Arabic. Egyptian Colloquial Arabic is the Arabic
dialect spoken in Egypt and northern Sudan.
Most of the questions are asked in a relatively informal register of English.
Interpret those questions into Egyptian Colloquial Arabic. Some of the
questions are spoken in a more formal register of English. You may
interpret those into either Modern Standard Arabic or Egyptian Colloquial
Arabic. The choice of Arabic is up to you.
17
When interpreting the witness’s answers into English, interpret testimony
given in “Modern Standard Arabic” (also called “Classical Arabic” or al-fusha) into formal English. When the witness speaks in an informal,
colloquial, or slangy style of Arabic, use an informal style of English or
slang.
Specific Guidance for the Levantine Colloquial Exam12
The Arabic-speaking witness you will hear is from Lebanon and will be speaking
Levantine Colloquial Arabic. This is the Arabic dialect spoken in the “Mashriq,” which is
spoken in Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, and Syria, as well as by Arabs in Israel.
Most of the questions are asked in a relatively informal register of English. You should
interpret those questions into Levantine Colloquial/Mashriqi Arabic.
Some of the questions are phrased in a more formal style of English. You may interpret
those into either MSA or Levantine Colloquial/Mashriqi Arabic. The choice of Arabic is
up to you; in this section of the exam, you will not be penalized for your choice.
When interpreting the witness’s answers into English, interpret testimony given in MSA
into formal English. When the witness speaks in an informal, colloquial, or slangy style
of Levantine Colloquial Arabic, use an informal, colloquial, or slangy style of English.
Here are the actual instructions the proctor will read to you when you take the
consecutive section of the exam:
Interpret questions asked in English into Arabic and interpret the witness’s
Arabic responses into English after each speaker finishes speaking. The
Arabic-speaking witness you are about to hear is from Lebanon and
speaks Levantine Colloquial Arabic. That is the Arabic dialect spoken in
the “Mashriq,” which includes Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, and Syria, as
well as Arabs in Israel.
Most of the questions are asked in a relatively informal register of English.
Interpret those questions into Levantine Colloquial Arabic or Mashriqi
Arabic. Some of the questions are phrased in a more formal style of
English. You may interpret those into either Modern Standard Arabic or
Levantine Colloquial or Mashriqi Arabic. The choice of Arabic is up to you.
When interpreting the witness’s answers into English, interpret testimony
given in “Modern Standard Arabic” (also called “Classical Arabic” or al-fusha) into formal English. When the witness speaks in an informal,
colloquial, or slangy style of Arabic, use an informal style of English or
slang.
12
Remember, the first version of this exam has been retired and is not presently available. A new version
will be developed as soon as possible to replace it and these are the instructions that you will hear.
18
Suggestions to Remember When Taking the Consecutive Section
•
Try to understand when to use formal English or Arabic (MSA) and when to
use informal English or Arabic (colloquial Arabic or slang), but do not let this
interfere with a fluid rendition of your interpretation.
• Develop a note-taking system before you take the exam. Use your system
to take notes during the exam to supplement your short-term memory.
Note-taking is an essential skill for performing the consecutive mode
professionally and competently.
• Use your repeats, but use them wisely. If you use them early in the exam
on short utterances, they won’t be available to you if you struggle with
longer utterances.
Special Note re Interpreting English Legal Terms into Arabic
When interpreting legal terminology from English, you will ordinarily be using
equivalents in MSA. You need to exercise caution, however, to make sure that the MSA
word or phrase really means the same thing as the English source term. The goal is to
find and use equivalent terminology in Arabic for common legal terms used in American
courts. However, since the legal systems are different in many key ways, sometimes
there is no real equivalent in MSA. When there is no equivalent term or phrase in MSA,
you may use a simple descriptive phrase instead that conveys the basic meaning (e.g.,
“jury” could be something like “the 12 people who decide the case”).
How Are the Arabic Court Interpreting Performance Tests Graded?
What Is Graded?
All Consortium exams, regardless of language or section of the exam, are structured
and graded the same way. A very complex process that adheres to the Consortium’s
Test Construction Manual ensures that all exams are constructed the same way and are
valid and reliable, and have similar levels of difficulty.
The consecutive and simultaneous exams are based on actual courtroom transcripts.
When possible, the base texts for the sight materials are authentic documents from
each source language used in court cases.
Teams of trained experts “write” the tests, which involves editing the materials selected
according to the specifications set forth in the test construction policy document
mentioned above. Within the text, the experts select specific words and phrases to be
scoring units. Scoring units are linguistic phenomena whose interpretation will be
graded and are distributed throughout the test material. Candidates taking the test
never know what specific words or phrases have been selected as scoring units. A list
of the categories of scoring units is provided in Appendix C.
To illustrate the concept of scoring units, take the following simple sentence: “I saw a
tall, red-headed man sitting in the driver’s seat of the Toyota Echo.” In theory, any of
19
the words individually and some of the words various combinations appearing in that
text could be a scoring unit as the following examples (scoring units are designated in
bold and italics and bold; note: this is not an exhaustive listing of possible scoring units
in the sample sentence) illustrate:
1. I saw could be a measure of Grammar in at least two ways:
a. Subject/verb agreement
b. Use of past tense (instead of any other tense)
2. tall or red-headed could be a measure of:
a. General Vocabulary (is the lexical content preserved?)
b. Markers, Intensifiers, Emphasis and Precision (are the descriptors which
provide specific information about the man accurately interpreted?)
c. Grammar to determine, for some languages, whether the adjectives agree
with the noun being modified in number and/or gender.
d. tall or red-headed could be selected as a scoring unit likely to be left out as
they constitute a string of modifiers since interpreters sometimes leave one or
the other one out (this is referred to as Embeddings and Position)
3. sitting in could be a measure again of Grammar, or it could be, depending on
the language being interpreted into, an awkward phrasing that requires some
other form in the target language for which one would want to measure the
candidate’s ability to avoid Language Interference (including literal interpretation)
4. driver’s seat could be General Vocabulary
5. Toyota Echo could be a proper name to be tested under the category of Names
and Numbers to ensure that it is handled properly (note: proper names are not
interpreted into the other language).
Who Grades the Exams?
The raters who grade the exams are selected because of their linguistic expertise,
professional experience, and ability to follow the Consortium’s rating standards. Before
they grade any exams, they undergo training. Most raters are practicing, experienced
court interpreters; a few are linguistic scholars with advanced degrees (e.g., a Ph.D. in
linguistics, with a specialization in the language of the test).
For further details about how test writers and raters are selected, trained and perform
their duties, see the following documents for the Consortium’s Court Interpreter Oral
Examination: Test Construction Manual and Test Rating Standards and Resource
Materials for Rater Training: Court Interpreting Oral Proficiency Examination, which are
available at http://www.ncsconline.org/D_Research/CIConsortManuals.html.13
How the Raters Grade the Exams
When rating exams, the raters work from recordings of each exam that have been sent
to them. The candidates whose exams are being rated are not identified and the raters,
13
As this revised version is being issued, the Consortium’s Technical Committee, which is responsible for
these and other manuals for the Consortium’s testing program, is finishing a major revision of the second
manual expected to be completed in late 2010, whose new title is expected to be Test Rating Manual.
20
therefore, know nothing about the candidates whose exams they are scoring. When
possible, raters do not even know the jurisdiction in which the exam was administered.
The raters individually listen to the sound recording of the exam and mark the scoring
units embedded in the test texts, as described above, as correct or incorrect. Then they
compare their scoring with each other and must agree any time a scoring unit is to be
rated as incorrect. The raters make their determinations that individual scoring units are
incorrect in accordance with a dictionary of acceptable and unacceptable renderings
that was prepared by the test writers and which is regularly updated. When a rendering
is provided by a candidate that does not appear in that dictionary, the raters conduct
research and make recommendations as to additions to the dictionary. A team of
experts makes the final decision with respect to updates of the master dictionary.
Each scoring unit is assessed as being correct or incorrect. A scoring unit can be
incorrect for many different reasons, but the most common examples of scoring units
that are marked wrong are that they are (1) left out in part or altogether or (2)
incorrectly interpreted (e.g., $2,500 is interpreted as $250).14
Scores are calculated by dividing the number or scoring units correctly interpreted by
the number of scoring units in that portion of the exam. For example, if a candidate has
accurately interpreted 65 of the 75 scoring units in the simultaneous, the score is
calculated as follows: 65 ÷ 75 = .867, or a score of 87%.
Please note that raters do not routinely mark scoring units as incorrect when an
examinee uses an inappropriate variety of Arabic. However, in the sight and
simultaneous portions of the exam, it is generally discouraged to use any form of Arabic
other than MSA, except when the register dictates otherwise. The raters may make an
exception if the examinee uses an inappropriate variety of Arabic in one or two
instances, but will count a rendering incorrect if it is consistently used throughout the
exam. For example, the source text may say “he wishes to”. The examinee may
interpret “he wishes to” into MSA as yuriidu ’an or into Egyptian Colloquial Arabic as
‘aawiz or ‘aayiz. Both the MSA and the Egyptian Colloquial Arabic interpretation would
be marked correct. If you consistently interpret formal English into a colloquial dialect of
Arabic instead of into Modern Standard Arabic, you should be aware, as the raters will
be, that your language skills and professionalism need improvement.
The authors hope that you find this document helpful in
guiding you to success in the field of court interpretation.
They also welcome any feedback on this document,
suggestions on how to improve it, or references to other
resources that may help future candidates. Please write us at
[email protected].
14
For a fuller discussion of the kinds of mistakes candidates taking court interpreter certification exams
tend to make, see Common Oral Interpreting Exam Performance Deficiencies, which is available on-line
at http://www.ncsc.org/Web%20Documents/Consortium_CommonErrors.pdf.
21
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22
APPENDIX A
KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES (KSAS) FOR
THE PROFESSION OF COURT INTERPRETATION
Another way to consider the KSAs of court interpreters is the comprehensive itemization
issued in 2007 by a research report commissioned by the Judicial Council of
California.15 The KSAs they determined to be “essential for the performance of court
interpretation” appear below.16 Again, please ask yourself two questions about each
KSA: (1) Do I currently have this KSA? (2) If not, what am I willing and able to do to
obtain each of these KSAs?
Linguistic Skills
• Native-like proficiency in all working languages;
• Ability to think and react communicatively in all working languages;
• Knowledge and use of a broad range of vocabulary, including legal
terminology, subject-specific terminology, and slang; and
• Knowledge and use of cultural nuances, regional variations, idiomatic
expressions, and colloquialisms in all working languages.
Speaking Skills
• Ability to speak with proper pronunciation, diction, and intonation in all
working languages;
• Ability to speak with a neutralized accent in all working languages; and
• Ability to project and/or speak softly.
Listening Comprehension Skills
• Ability to listen to and comprehend different rates of speech in all
working languages;
• Ability to listen to and comprehend various regional accents and/or
dialect differences in all working languages; and
• Ability to ignore auditory distractions and focus on source speaker.
Reading Comprehension Skills
• Ability to read and comprehend overall meaning and specific details of
written text in all working languages.
• Ability to read and recognize various written contexts, including formal
and informal text, subject-specific vocabulary, idiomatic expressions,
and colloquialisms; and
• Ability to read quickly and with little preparation.
Interpreting Skills
• Ability to concentrate and focus;
• Ability to process linguistic information quickly;
• Ability to make quick linguistic decisions regarding word choice or
terminology selection;
• Ability to apply short-term memory skills in retaining small units of
information;
• Ability to think analytically;
15
16
Study of California’s Court Interpreter Certification and Registration Testing, 2007.
Ibid., pp. 20-21.
23
•
Ability to utilize predictive thinking skills to anticipate incoming
messages;
• Ability to convey meaning;
• Ability to provide transference from one language to another;
• Ability to preserve accuracy;
• Ability to select appropriate equivalents for vocabulary or phrases;
• Ability to accommodate for lack of equivalents in vocabulary or
phrases;
• Ability to conserve intent, tone, style, and utterances of all messages;
• Ability to reflect register; and
• Ability to self-monitor and self-correct.
Behavioral Skills
• Ability to practice and follow ethical standards;
• Ability to conduct business in a professional manner;
• Knowledge and awareness of cultural aspects that affect language;
• Ability to work in various settings, situations, or conditions;
• Ability to project self-confidence and self-awareness when interpreting;
and
• Knowledge and continued learning of social, technological, and legal
changes that affect language.
In his comments on that report to the Judicial Council of California, Robert Joe Lee17
identified several additional KSAs that you should also consider as vital to the day-today work of an Arabic court interpreter:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Ability to exercise situational control appropriately (e.g., knowing how to handle
impediments to performing court interpreting duties and having the fortitude to do
so);
Ability to switch back and forth among the various modes of interpretation
appropriately;
Ability to use note-taking techniques effectively to supplement short-term
memory;
Ability to work effectively and productively on a team of interpreters (teams of two
or more interpreters are important if not essential in proceedings that last two
hours or longer);
Ability to prepare for assignments, including knowing when and how to request
appropriate information;
Ability to use equipment appropriately, especially simultaneous and telephone
interpreting devices; and
Ability to use professional judgment flowing from professional codes of conduct
and conform one’s practice to the interpreter’s role and functions.
17
“Comments on the Study of California’s Court Interpreter Certification and Registration Testing,”
December 14, 2007.
24
APPENDIX B:
DICTIONARIES AND OTHER SOURCES
FOR TERMINOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT
General Bibliography of Dictionaries
Bibliography of Arabic Dictionaries, compiled by John. E. Hinton. Available at
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/data/indiv/Mideast/cuvlm/AraBib
Comprehensive Monolingual Arabic Dictionary
Al-Mu’jam Al-Wasiit (Arabic-Arabic Lexicon). Cairo: Majma’ al-Lughah al‘Arabiyyah, 1980.
Also useful:
The Hans-Wehr Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic.
Editor: J.M. Cowan.
Publisher: Spoken Language Services, Inc., Ithaca, NY
Comprehensive General Bilingual Dictionary
Al-Mawrid (English-Arabic/ Arabic-English dictionary)
ASIN: 1894412974
Publisher: Dar El Ilm Lilmalayin.
Date: March 1998 (or most recent edition)
Al-Mawrid 2002: A Modern English-Arabic Dictionary
ISBN: 9953900426
Publisher: Librairie Du Moyen-Orient
Pub. Date: 2001 (or most recent edition)
Monolingual Legal Dictionaries in Arabic
General legal:
Mawsuu’at al-qadaa' wa-al-fiqh lil-duwal al-‘Arabiyya. 3 vols. Cairo: al-Daar al-‘Arabiyya
lil-Mawsuu‘aat al-Qaanuuniyya, 1975-1976.
Criminal law:
Abuu Zayd, Ma’muud. al-Mu’jam fii ‘ilm al-ijraam wa-al-ijtimaa’ al-qaanuunii wa-al‘iqaab. Cairo: Daar Ghariib, 2003.
Shalaalaa, Naziih Na’iim. al-Qaamuus al-jazaa’ii al-tahliilii = Dictionnaire pénale
analytique. Beirut: Manshuuraat al-Halabii al-huquuqiyya, 2004.
25
Information in Arabic about Legal Systems
1. United Nations Development Programme, http://www.undp-pogar.org
2. Reference books for Arabic available at www.aramedia.com
3. Websites of interest:
a. www.arab.de/arab/Government_Politics/Law_Issues/
b. www.arablaw.org/English.htm
c. www.findlaw.com/12international/countries/index.html
d. www.findlaw.com/12international/regions/mideast.html
e. www.law.depaul.edu/centers_Institutes/ihrli/publications/
f. www.law-book.net/
g. www.nyulawglobal.org/globalex/Egypt.htm
4. Do your own Google search in English or Arabic for websites that publish rules of
procedure from Arabic-speaking countries
5. Locate websites of Ministries of Justice and other government entities related to
law and courts in Arabic-speaking countries
Bilingual Dictionary of Legal Terms
Arabic-English Faruqi’s Law Dictionary, 3rd ed.
ISBN: 0884310728
Publisher: I B D Ltd
Pub. Date: December 1986
(This dictionary is also available in English-Arabic)
Dictionnaire des Termes Juridiques, Français-Anglais-Arabe.
Author: Dr. A. Zaki Badaoui
Publisher: Dar Al-Kitab Al-Masri, Cairo, Egypt and Dar Al-Kitab AlLubnani, Beirut, Lebanon
English-Arabic Dictionary for Legal Terms Used in US Courts
Author: Walid Farhoud
Publisher: Middle East International Services, West University Center,
4500 Ninth Avenue NE, Suite 300, Seattle, WA 98105; 206-295-4784;
http://www.arabicspecialists.com/dictionary.asp
Pub. Date: April 2008
English/Arabic Legal Glossary
Author: Samia Zumout
Publisher: Superior Court of California, County of Sacramento, 720 9th
Street, Sacramento, CA 95814; 916-874-6867
Pub. Date: 2005
Available free on-line at:
http://www.saccourt.com/geninfo/legal_glossaries/glossaries/Arabic_Engli
sh_Legal_Glssary.pdf
Law Dictionary, English-Arabic, 3rd ed.
Author: Dr. Ibrahim I. Al-Wahab
Publisher: Libraire du Liban, Riad Sol Square, Beirut, Lebanon
Pub. Date: 1988
See also www.proz.com/glossary-translations/english-to-arabic-translations/75
26
APPENDIX C:
SCORING UNIT DESCRIPTIONS AND TESTING GOALS18
SCORING UNIT
CATEGORY
DESCRIPTION
TESTING GOAL(S)
A: Grammar
“Grammar is a system of principles that
govern the way a language works. Grammar
describes how words relate to each other,
particularly how they function in
sentences.”19
Ensure that candidates recognize and, within
the limits of the source and target languages,
satisfactorily handle the interpretation of
grammar, especially verbs.
B: Language
Interference
Terms or phrases that may invite
misinterpretation due to interference of one
language on another (e.g., false cognates,
awkward phrasing, terms or phrases
susceptible to literal renditions resulting in
loss of precise meaning).
1-Measure the ability to keep languages
separate, speaking them as an educated
native speaker would, with no interference from
the other language, and
Vocabulary that is widely used in ordinary
parlance and could be spoken by native
speakers appearing in any courtroom.
1-Measure the ability to preserve lexical
content of general source language terms
when interpreted into the target language,
C: General
Vocabulary
2-Measure the ability to avoid being constricted
unnecessarily by the source language resulting
in interpretations that are literal or verbatim.
2-Measure the depth and range of candidate’s
vocabulary, and
3-Measure the ability to tap into a deep
reservoir of vocabulary without hesitating or
stumbling.
D: Legal Terms
and Phrases
Any word or phrase of a legal or technical
nature, or which is not common in everyday
speech, but is commonly used in legal
settings.
18
Measure the candidate’s range of knowledge
and recognition of common legal terms and
styles of language used in courtrooms and the
ability to faithfully interpret them into the target
language, going into both languages, but
especially from English into the other
language.
Consortium for State Court Interpreter Certification, Court Interpreter Oral Examination: Test
Construction Manual, 2010.
19
DiYanni, Robert, and Pat C. Hoy II. The Scribner Handbook for Writers. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1995,
p. 221.
27
SCORING UNIT
CATEGORY
DESCRIPTION
TESTING GOAL(S)
E: Idioms and
Sayings
An idiom is “a speech form or an
expression of a given language that is
peculiar to itself grammatically or cannot be
understood from the individual meanings of
its elements”20. Sayings are short
expressions such as aphorisms and
proverbs that are often repeated and familiar
setting forth wisdom and truth.
Determine the candidate’s breadth of
knowledge and understanding of a language’s
common idioms and sayings, and the ability to
interpret the meaning or an equivalent idiom or
saying in the target language.
F: Register
Style of language drawn upon in various
social settings; a key element in expressing
degrees of formality, including curses,
profanity, and taboo words. Register shows,
through a pattern of vocabulary and
grammar, what a speaker or writer is doing
with language at a given moment.
Assess the candidate’s ability to preserve the
level of language so that others’ impression of
the speaker is not raised or lowered by the
interpreter and assess the candidate’s ability to
interpret offensive terminology.
G:
Any number, measurement, or proper name.
Measure the candidate’s ability to be precise
and accurate with all numbers, maintain
weights and measures as stated in the source
language without converting them to another
system (e.g., from metric to English), preserve
names of businesses, streets, etc. without
interpreting them (except that “Avenue,
“Street,” etc. may or may not be interpreted,
but the actual name is not to be interpreted),
and conserve every letter of a spelled name in
the order uttered.
Any word or phrase giving emphasis or
precision to a description (e.g., adverbs,
adjectives) or statement (e.g., can be
grammatical in form), including time (e.g.,
the day after tomorrow, last night, next
week).
Ensure that the various ways of marking
speech are preserved so the same degree of
impact and precision is conveyed to the
listener of the interpretation.
I: Embeddings
and Position
Words or phrases that may be omitted due
to position (at the beginning or middle of a
long sentence, second in a string of
adjectives or adverbs) or function (tag
questions).
Ensure that candidates preserve all elements
of the source language, especially those that
they may deem to be “unimportant,” or forget
due to their location or function in the
utterance.
J: Slang and
Colloquialism
s
Slang and colloquialisms are informal,
nonstandard words or phrases that are used in
informal, ordinary conversation but not in formal
speech or writing and are identified in standard
dictionaries as “slang,” “colloquialism,” or
“informal” or are listed in published dictionaries of
slang and/or colloquialisms or in scholarly articles
and books so identifying them. Slang items,
which are coined by social groups, may be used
in test texts only when they have passed into
widespread usage across the United States.
Measure the candidate’s range of knowledge
of nonstandard, informal forms of speech and
their ability to interpret the meaning of such
words and phrases without being bound to
preserve their low register.
Number
s and Names
H:
Markers
, Intensifiers,
Emphasis
and Precision
20
The American Heritage College Dictionary, Third Edition, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1997, p. 674.
28
SOURCES
Abdel-Al, Nabil M. “Cultural Variations in Arabic,” PROTEUS, 13:4 (Winter 2005).
Abdel-Rahman, Marwan. “Arabic Varieties: Common Perceptions and Misperceptions,”
PROTEUS, 14:3 (Fall 2005).
Al-Jadda, Souheila. “Lost in Arabic Translation,” THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE
MONITOR (September 16, 2004). www.csmonitor.com/2004/0916/p09s01coop.html.
Bergman, Elizabeth M. “A Proposal for the Classification of Arabic Varieties.” Prepared
for the Court Interpreting, Legal Translating, and Bilingual Services Section of the
New Jersey Administrative Office of the Courts. July 28, 1998.
Cadora, F.J. BEDOUIN, VILLAGE, AND URBAN ARABIC: AN ECOLINGUISTIC
STUDY. Leiden/New York: E.J. Brill, 1992.
Consortium for Language Access in the Courts. COURT INTEPRETER ORAL
EXAMINATION: TEST CONSTRUCTION MANUAL. April 2010.
________. TEST RATING STANDARDS AND RESOURCE MATERIALS FOR RATER
TRAINING: COURT INTERPERTING ORAL PROFICIENCY EXAMINATION.
June 2001. Note: This older document will soon be superseded by a major
revised version entitled TEST RATING MANUAL.
Ferguson, C.A. “Diglossia,” WORD 15: 325-340 (1959).
Florida Department of Education, Office of the Chancellor, K-12 Public Schools,
Academic Achievement through Language Acquisition, Survey 2, 2007-08,
Student Demographics.
Grimes, Barbara F., ed. ETHNOLOGUE: LANGUAGES OF THE WORLD, 12th edition.
Dallas: Summer Institute of Linguistics, 1992.
Ismail, Aziz. “Cultural Awareness and the Arabic Interpreter,” PROTEUS 11 (Winter
2002). Reprinted in THE ATA CHRONICLE (August 2002): 21-23.
Judicial Council of California, 2005 Language Need and Interpreter Use Study: Report
to the Legislature, February 2006.
_______. Study of California’s Court Interpreter Certification and Registration Testing.
Prepared by ALTA Language Services, Inc. 2007. (This report is available online at http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/programs/courtinterpreters.)
Kaye, Alan S. Kaye, “Arabic,” in THE WORLD’S MAJOR LANGUAGES, Bernard
Comrie, ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1985. Pp. 664-685.
29
Kheir, Fouad. “Courtroom Interpreting in Arabic,” paper presented at the 26th Annual
Conference of the American Translators Association, October 16-20, 1985.
Lee, Robert Joe. “Delivering Court Intepreting Services to Speakers of Arabic,” October
14, 2004. Prepared for the Consortium for State Court Interpreter Certification.
Lyovin, Anatole. AN INTRODUCTION TO THE LANGUAGES OF THE WORLD. New
York: ‘Oxford University Press, 1997.
Romberger, Wanda. “Skills Training for Foreign Languaauge Court Interpreters: Does
it increase the number of qualified interpreters.” Institute for Court Management,
Court Executive Development Program, May 2007.
Trudgill, Peter. SOCIOLINGUISTICS: AN INTRODUCTION TO LANGUAGE AND
SOCIETY, rev’d. ed. Middlesex: Penguin Books Ltd., 1983.
U.S. Census Bureau, The Arab Population: 2000, December 2003.
_________. Language Use and English-Speaking Ability: 2000. October 2003.
Available at www.census.gov/prod/2003pubs/c2kbr-29.pdf
_________. We the People of Arab Ancestry in the United States. March 2005.
30